Blood Makes Noise

"Montgomery Advertiser" article for March

Blood Makes Noise

Blood makes noise. My out-of-shape body painfully reminds me of this every time I try to do something to get fit. When my heart starts pumping, I can actually hear the sound of progress pounding in my ears.

Whether we exercise or not, we all have moments when we can hear the blood pumping through our bodies. A crashing noise wakes us from a sound sleep and suddenly it’s as if our hearts will beat right out of our chests. Our team’s star player stands to make a three-point-shot. It’s the last few minutes of the game. The only sound in the arena is silence, but the hearts of thousands of fans beat rapidly in unison.

Do you remember how your heart fluttered on your wedding day? When it skipped a beat as the nurse handed you your first-born child? Blood makes noise.

This noise echoes throughout the Passion of Jesus Christ. The pounding of hearts fills the air, from the garden at Gethsemane to the crucifixion at Golgotha. Christ makes his request, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me; yet, not my will but yours be done.” (Luke 22:42). His blood pumps faster as he asks to be spared and pulses as he gives himself up to the will of the Father and his “sweat became like great drops of blood.” (Luke 22:44).

Christ’s beating heart stops briefly in the garden. Judas, trusted friend and disciple, gives him the kiss of betrayal. Here, his heart is broken.

Confusion and resignation permeate the Sanhedrin as they interrogate Jesus. This gives way to the beat of anticipation when Pilate asks the crowd what they wish him to do with Jesus. And again, pulsating energy as they cry out, “Crucify Him!” (John 19:15).

Blood makes noise as it spills to the ground during the scourging. The Roman guards beat and whip Jesus with a strap of nails. The heartbeat gets weak as He walks to Golgotha. The people shout insults. The women wail. The guards place a crown of thorns on His head. The sound grows faint. “My God, my God, who have you forsaken me?” (Mark 15:34).

We see Mary, mother of Jesus, ache for her son. It was Mary who held Jesus in her arms, allowed him to listen to her heart as she rocked him to sleep at night. And when he fell down and skinned his knee, she was the one who scooped him up and told him things would be okay. I suspect it was Mary who initially taught Jesus about hope.

Do you feel that the sound of hope is silent in your life? Have you reached a point where you believe things are too far-gone, or that you have dug yourself in too deep to be rescued? Do you think you have done too much to be worthy of redemption?

The world tried to silence the sound, but it didn’t work. Jesus Christ lives. He conquered death so that we may live as if death were no more.

If we listen this Holy Week and Easter, we’ll hear it. It beats for you and for me, not because of what we do or have, what we’ve done wrong or right, but because we are His. It beats amidst our joy, pain, darkness and light. It’s the heartbeat of God. It beat on that day some two thousand years ago and it beats for us still. It’s the sound of compassion and love. It’s the sound of new life and salvation. And it beats as if to say, it’s okay. I’m right here with you. There is hope.

Blood makes noise. Thanks be to God.